1 Star
Very…read moredisappointed with my experience with CMC Electrical & Generator Repair. I strongly recommend looking elsewhere for any of your electrical needs. I take some responsibility in this because I should have researched costs and got some quotes first, but I saw all the good Google reviews and decided to take a chance, big mistake on my part. After the fact I have reached out to several other companies in the area and none of them are near the cost to diagnose my issue.
CMC charges $400 an hour to diagnose an issue which I found to be extremely excessive compared with typical residential electrical pricing. A quick search will show that current 2026 national pricing information puts a typical electrician's hourly rate around $65-$130 per hour, while service/diagnostic fees commonly fall in the approximately $75-$200 range. Even allowing for differences in location, experience, and complexity, $400 for a diagnostic hour is substantially above those published benchmarks.
Even more concerning was the quote for repairing the electrical line going to my light post. I was quoted more than $2,000, with approximately $1,600 of that amount attributed to digging a 30-40 foot trench to bury the line. It is listed as $400 an hour to dig the trench on the quote.
For comparison, 2026 national trenching cost data puts standard trenching at approximately $5-$12 per linear foot, with more difficult/complex excavation reaching $13-$40 per foot. At 30-40 feet, $1,600 works out to $40-$53 per foot, putting this quote at or above even the upper end of the published range for complex trenching.
I understand that every job is different and that difficult soil, access problems, permits, depth requirements, utility conflicts, equipment, and other site conditions can legitimately increase costs. However, none of those factors are present in this situation.
CMC will get you to have them come out with a low service fee only to spring their over priced diagnostics fees $400 an hour and then also try and sale you their yearly subscription of $300. From my perspective, this felt like a bait-and-switch pricing strategy: a relatively attractive price to get the customer scheduled, followed by a very expensive overpriced diagnostics quote and repair quote once they are already on site.
As far as the technician goes he was nice, I thought I was going to have to call 911 when he was messing with my breaker box and caused a big electrical spark and pop. I did see him smoking at the end of my driveway while on site on my paying time. He left my breaker box open and left my crawl space door open when he left ( luckily I saw this before the rain hit the next day). He asked if he could take a picture of my cat and tried to pet him several times while trying to work, cool if I wasn't paying for your time. When I said I would leave him to his work he wanted me to stay and chat but I thought to myself that it would just take more time away from doing your job.
CMC's own website describes its approach as providing "honest advice" and "transparent pricing," which made my experience even more disappointing, plus I find out the owner of CMC somehow knows my pastor, that should make for some interesting conversations.
My advice to anyone considering CMC is to look elsewhere and do some research before calling any company on average costs and get several quotes and if possible find out what they charge per hour to diagnose an issue before they come out.